Thermoplastic carrier bags



Aug. 19, 1969 H. s. suoMlNr-:N

THERMQPLASTIC CARRIER BAGS Filed Jan. 22, 1966 INVENTOR H. S. SuominenBY #MFM M (AA/Lau ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,462,069THERMOPLASTIC CARRIER BAGS Heikki S. Suominen, Petsamonkaku 14,

Tampere, Finland Filed Jan. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 699,535 Claims priority,applic1ast'i7o/1iinland, Jan. 24, 1967,

Int. Cl. B65d 31/02, 31 /12 U.S. Cl. 229-54 5 Claims ABSTRACT F THEDISCLOSURE The disclosure relates to thermoplastic carrier bags havingone or more transversely extending sleeves at the mouth of the bag inwhich may be inserted a printed card or the like for identifying theproduct and for general advertising and/or decorative purposes. The cardinsert and the sleeve are properly dimensioned relative to each other sothat the entire length of the card lits within the sleeve; moreover, thewidth of the card is slightly less than that of the sleeve so that itcan be readily inserted into the sleeve. To ensure that the card willremain in the sleeve under normal conditions of use, the card isprovided with one or more indentations along an edge thereof, and theinterior of the sleeve is provided with corresponding obstructions alongone edge so that when the card is in place within the sleeve eachobstruction lits into the corresponding indentation or recess in thecard.

Background of the invention Carrier bags formed of thermoplasticmaterial have found wide acceptance for the retailing of goods. Suchbags may be attractively decorated and are capable of high volume, lowcost production. Quite commonly such bags are printed on one or bothside-walls in a decorative fashion, and may include identifyinginformation concerning the nature of the specific product packagedtherein. This, however, necessitates the use of a different style of bagfor each of the many products which are to be packaged, therebyincreasing the cost of using such packaging materials because of theconsiderable inventory of bags that must be produced and stored. Thisproblem can, of course, be overcome by employing a single type or styleof bag to package a considerable variety of products, but when this isdone, it has in the past been impractical to distinctively identifyspecific goods packaged in the bag. In accordance with the presentinvention, this latter obstacle is also overcome by the provision of aspecial insert which can be imprinted to identify the particular goodscarried in the bag and with such various types of inserts being readilycapable of being inserted in a sleeve in a single type or style of bagwhich is then adapted for packaging a great variety of products.

Summary of the invention It is a feature of this invention to provide acarrier bag formed of thermoplastic material and having adjacent themouth thereof one or more transversely extending open-ended sleeves,which are capable of receiving an insert of cardboard or similar stiifmaterial which may be imprinted with identifying marks that areindicative of the goods packaged and of the trademark of the retailer orthe like. In providing such construction, it is, of course, desirablethat the cards be capable of quick and convenient insertion into thesleeve without requiring any further operation such as heating, sealing,cutting, or stapling, or the like, and yet have the inserted cardssecurely xed within the sleeve so that they will not slip out duringnormal display and usage of the carrier bag.

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This requirement is met by providing one or more partial obturationswithin the sleeve and adjacent an edge thereof. Such obturations mayreadily be formed by heatwelding or sealing together the opposite wallsforming the sleeve at one or more distinct locations along an edge ofthe sleeve. The card inserts are all then correspondingly provided withindentations or recesses along an edge, and such indentations arelocated so as to correspond to the locations of the obturations formedin the sleeve. The relative dimensions of sleeve and card insert are somade that the insert can readily slide into the sleeve but willencounter some resistance if the non-indented edge of the card attemptsto slide past the location of the heatsealed obstruction. However, withthe card fully in place in the sleeve, each indentation then fits intothe corresponding recess or indentation in the card, subsequentlyproviding frictional resistance which tends to maintain the card securein the sleeve.

Brief description of the drawings The detailed description of theinvention will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a carrier bag constructed in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional View taken along the section line 2 2 ofFIG. l;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of an alternative embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a side View of still another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the illustration of FIG. 4 takenalong the section line 5 5.

Description of the illustrated embodiments In FIGS. 1 and 2, the carrierbag is illustrated as being formed of two opposed side-Walls 1 which arejoined together at their side edges and also at the bottom to form aclosed carrier bag. The opposed side-Walls 1 are also heat-sealedtogether along a transverse weld 2 which thereby forms a closed top edgefor the contentscarrying portion of the bag. Above the transverse weld 2the opposed side-walls 3 form a transversely extending sleeve which maybe open at both ends for the ready insertion therein of a card or othersimilar device 4 upon which may be imprinted descriptive or advertisingmaterial relating particularly to the product which is to be packaged inthe bag. It should be understood that the bag walls 1 may themselves beimprinted in a decorative manner or with suitable advertising material.

As shown in FIG. 1, the insert 4 is provided with a plurality ofapertures 8 which form finger access apertures for carrying or forholding the bag open upon a rod or the like. It will be understood thatthe opposite side- Walls 3 of the sleeve will similarly havecorresponding apertures 8 therein to permit carrying or holding of thebag as just described.

To ensure that the display card 4 will be securely held within thesleeve, two spot-welds are provided at 5 to weld together opposing walls3 and thereby provide spaced obturations in the sleeve. The card insertis so dimensioned in its width that it can still be inserted in theremain space left Within the sleeve above the spot-welds 5; however,sufficient frictional force results by reason of the close lit betweenthe two that some force is required to be exerted upon the card 4 toplace it within the sleeve. The card 4 is provided with spacedindentations 7 whose spacing and location correspond to that of thespot-welds 5. Consequently, when the card 4 is in place within thesleeve, each of the spot-Welds 5 is positioned within a correspondingindentation 7, thereby ensuring that the card 4 will remain in place.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 is generally similar to that of FIGS. 1 and 2,with the exception, however, that a single elongate, transverselyextending aperture 9 is provided in the card 4, and such aperture isprovided with an indentation 10 which enables the carrier bag to hungupon a rod or the like. An aperture 11 may be provided in the side-walls3 forming the sleeve, and as shown, such aperture may, if desired, be ofgreater length in the longitudinal direction of the bag than theaperture 9 in card 4.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5, two sleeves are provided, each beingformed by turning down an edge of the bag mouth and heat-sealing suchturned-down edge of the outer wall of the bag along the transverse weld2. Such construction provides, as shown, two sleeves for accommodatingtwo card inserts 4, each of which is otherwise generally similar inconstruction to the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3.

Having described several embodiments of my invention, I desire it to beunderstood that various modications and alterations may be made to thespecific form shown without departing from the scope of my invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A carrier bag having adjacent the mouth of said bag a transverselyextending sleeve which is open at least at one end thereof, said sleevehaving at least one partial obturation therein adjacent one interioredge, an insert for said sleeve having a length substantially equallingthat obturation when said insert is fully in place within said sleeve.

2. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said carrier bag is formed of athermoplastic material and said partial obturation is formed byspot-welding together the opposing walls forming said sleeve.

3. The carrier bag of claim 2 in which the opposing front and back bagwalls are heat-sealed together both at the mouth of the bag and along aline parallel to but downwardly of the bag mouth to thereby form saidsleeve.

4. The carrier bag of claim 2 in which the front and back bag walls areeach turned downwardly and have their respective edges each heat-sealedto the corresponding bag wall to form thereby two parallel-situatedsleeves each ladapted for receiving an insert.

5. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said sleeve and said insert haveregistering apertures therein for providing finger-access opening andfor storing the bag upon a rod or the like.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,079,966 3/1963 Kugler 229-633,142,437 7/1964 Grant et al 229-68 3,255,951 6/1966 Kay 229-543,348,759 10/1967 Johnson 229-53 FOREIGN PATENTS 634,488 l/ 1962 Canada.

DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

